Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation: Reprinted from Green's Philosophical Works, vol. II., with Preface by Bernard Bosanquet — John Shaqi
Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation: Reprinted from Green's Philosophical Works, vol. II., with Preface by Bernard BosanquetGreen, Thomas Hill
Philosophy
Lectures on the Principles of Political Obligation: Reprinted from Green's Philosophical Works, vol. II., with Preface by Bernard Bosanquet
Green, Thomas Hill
Liberty; Natural law; Political obligation
Thus the 'jus naturae'--the system of rights
and obligations, as it should become no less than as it actually is
maintained--is distinct from morality in the proper sense. But it is
relative to it. This is implied in saying that there is a moral duty
in regard to actual obligations, as well as in speaking of the system
of rights and obligations as it should become. If such language is
justifiable, there must be a moral ground both for conforming to, and
for seeking to develope and improve, established 'Recht'; a moral
ground which can only lie in the moral end served by that established
system.
11. Thus we begin the ethical criticism of law with two
principles:--(1) that nothing but external acts can be matter of
'obligation' (in the restricted sense); and (2) that, in regard
to that which can be made matter of obligation, the question what
should be made matter of obligation--the question how far rights and
obligations, as actually established by law, correspond to the true
'jus naturae'--must be considered with reference to the moral end, as
serving which alone law and the obligations imposed by law have their
value.[1]
[1] There are two definitions of 'Recht' or 'jus naturae,' quoted
by Ulrici (_Naturrecht_, p. 219), which embody the truths conveyed
in these statements. (1) Krause defines 'Recht' as 'das organische
Ganze der äusseren Bedingungen des Vernunftlebens,' 'the organic
whole of the outward conditions necessary to the rational life.' (2)
Henrici says that 'Recht' is 'was der Idee der Unverletzbarkeit der
materiellen wesentlichen Bedingungen des moralischen Menschenthums,
d. h. der menschlichen Persönlichkeit nach ihrer Existenz und
ihrer Vervollkommnung, oder der unveräusserlichen Menschengüter im
äusserlichen Verkehr entspricht': i.e. 'Right is what' (or, 'that
is properly matter of legal obligation which') 'in the outward
intercourse of men corresponds to the idea of the inviolability of
the essential material conditions of a moral humanity, i.e. of the
human personality in respect of its existence and its perfection;'
or, more simply, 'Right is that which is really necessary to the
maintenance of the material conditions essential to the existence and
perfection of human personality.' Cf. Trendelenburg, _Naturrecht_,
Sect. 46. 'Das Recht ist im sittlichen Ganzen der Inbegriff
derjenigen allgemeinen Bestimmungen des Handelns, durch welche es
geschieht dass das sittliche Ganze und seine Gliederung sich erhalten
und weiter bilden kann.' Afterwards he emphasises the words 'des
Handelns,' and adds: 'Zwar kann das Handeln nicht ohne den Willen
gedacht werden, der zum Grunde liegt: aber die Rechtbestimmungen
sind nicht Bestimmungen des Willens als solchen, was dem innern
Gebiet, der Ethik der Gesinnung, anheimfallen würde. Der Wille der
nicht Handlung wird entzieht sich dem Recht. Wenn das Recht Schuld
und Versehen, _dolus_ und _culpa_, in sein Bereich zieht, so sind
sie als innere aber charakteristische Beschaffenbeiten des Handelns
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